Director Andy Serkis brought the anti-communist classic Animal Farm to the big screen, morphing it into an anti-capitalist children’s film filled with, well, fart jokes. The result? It flopped spectacularly, earning a mere $3.4 million in its opening weekend, despite being shown in 2,600 theaters.
What a miss.
An impressive voice cast, featuring Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Woody Harrelson, and Kathleen Turner, couldn’t save the film, which faced a staggering $35 million loss, not counting marketing expenses.
At the premiere of Animal Farm, Serkis used the occasion to criticize President Trump, sporting a red hat that stated “Make Animal Farm Fiction Again.”
Maybe a hat that said “Make Animal Farm Animal Farm Again” would have been more fitting?
It seems the left struggles to create something worthwhile. They tend to dismantle or ruin iconic works like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or Animal Farm. The end product often falls short or turns into something downright unwatchable. Even those who actually went to see Animal Farm left disappointed. C-Cinema Score.
Meanwhile, another film, Michael, a biopic on Michael Jackson, is doing much better, raking in $54 million its second weekend and reaching a domestic total of $184 million.
Globally, Michael has surpassed $424 million, even before its release in Japan, where Jackson’s popularity remains strong.
In its opening weekend, Michael set a record for music biopics.
By its second weekend, it had already become the second-highest grossing music biopic globally, trailing just behind Bohemian Rhapsody, which grossed over $900 million.
That’s quite a retention rate from weekend one to weekend two, especially in a time when other blockbusters tend to drop quickly.
As I noted last week, Michael concludes in 1988, five years before the first allegations against Jackson emerged. Critics have heavily critiqued the film for not presenting these complexities, with some using it as a platform to promote their “good person” personas, despite the fact that many of the accusations against Jackson were — quite frankly — dubious.
In 1993, grand juries found the allegations hard to believe.
In 2004, they were ruled implausible by a jury.
I can’t say what Jackson did or didn’t do, but in this country, we’re supposed to presume innocence until proven guilty, right? It’s not really my position to judge.
If investigators and prosecutors couldn’t secure a conviction in California, why is a $200 million movie even being made on this topic?
And why should it shame fans who admire the talent of someone who has never been convicted of any crime?
